A Little Tender, Loving Care
by loogs08
Summary: Eliza has become estranged from her pureblood wizarding family due to a dark secret. Now, she lives a quiet life in her humble Cottage. That is until fate brings a helpless Draco Malfoy in to complicate her life....or save her from her past? POST HOGWARTS
1. Memories

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They all belong to J.K Rowling.**

**.I.**

The ruffling of tree leaves, broken branches, and short intake of breaths was all that could be heard as he ran through the winding forest. He had been running for so long that his muscles burned from the exercise, and he did not know how much longer he could keep up his speed. In the far distance he saw the twinkling of lights, he knew he was close he just needed to keep running.

* * *

About 10 miles away from the Egrian forest in the outskirts of the Kington village a young woman named Eliza Selwyn was preparing her dinner for one in her small cozy cottage.

She loved days like today, because they were windy and cold which allowed her to turn on her wooden fireplace. She liked the way the heat emanated from the fireplace, it was unlike any other warmth. The soft rustling and cracking noises of the wood burning and the smell of pine and smoke filled the air. Days like today caused her to remember fond memories of her past.

_Eliza sat by the edge of the fire in her parent's home, she was playing with her favorite dolls when her sister came running into the living room carrying a letter_

"_Eli! Eli!" she yelled. She sat down next to Eliza waving the paper back and forth in an agitated manner._

"_What is it Becca?" Eliza turned towards her sister and looked at her expectantly _

"_Its here! Its finally here! This is the best birthday present ever!" Becca stared at the letter as if it were the most exquisite paper she had ever seen._

_Eliza already knew what the paper was. She could see by the green ink and the nicely written words on the parchment that it was her sister's acceptance letter to Hogwarts. Becca had been waiting for her letter ever since she could remember. Her parents had told them all about their experiences at Hogwarts, (that is where they had met and fallen madly in love) and when they were old enough, they would receive a wonderful letter informing them of their acceptance into Hogwarts __School of Witchcraft and Wizardry__. _

"_OH Becca! I am so happy for you!" Eliza dropped her dolls and hugged her sister tightly. While Eliza _was_ happy for her sister she knew that she would also miss her a lot because though her sister was out starting her wizarding career she would be stuck at home waiting patiently until it was her turn to go. _

_As if hearing her thoughts Becca squeezed her sister tighter and softly told her, "Don't worry Eli it's just two more years and you will get your letter too. Then we both will have our fun at Hogwarts" Eliza kissed her sister's cheek and knew that she was right. What was two more years? She too would have her moment. _

A loud knock on the door snapped Eliza back to reality. She stopped stirring her chicken soup and made her way to the front door.

She was wary to who it could be. She was not expecting anyone and it was too late for her neighbors to be calling in on her. As she slowly made her way to the door another three loud knocks startled her further, whoever was outside the door wanted to come in badly.

"I'm coming!" Eliza yelled, hoping that hearing a response from her would calm her visitor down.

As Eliza opened the door, she was startled and shocked to see the person standing in front of her doorstep waiting to be invited inside.

* * *

_A/N: Thanks for Reading, and a special thanks to my Beta Miss. Nastassja._


	2. Unexpected Visitor

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They all belong to J.K Rowling.**

**.II.**

"Eli! Are you just going to stand there looking at me or are you going to invite your favorite sister inside?!" Becca stood in front of Eliza's door smiling sweetly.

"You are my _only_ sister Becca" Eliza said smiling while hugging her sister.

"True but I am your favorite! And don't you forget it." Becca side stepped Eliza and walked inside the small living room.

"So what do I owe this pleasure?" Eliza went to the kitchen and gestured for her sister to follow.

"Just came to check up on my sister that's all, plus I had a free night since Bryan is babysitting his nephews tonight" Becca sat down on a small table near the stove. Eliza thought it was funny how her sister only came to visit her when her boyfriend seemed otherwise occupied.

"Oh figures I would be your second choice" Eliza joked while placing more vegetables into her soup.

"Eli you know you are not my second choice, it's just that Bryan and I, we are going through our honeymoon stage right now. You know not wanting to be away from each other, unless _absolutely_ necessary. That kind of thing" Rebecca said with a faraway look in her eyes.

But Eliza did not know or want to know what her sister was talking about. While her sister had more new boyfriends than new pairs of shoes (and that is saying a lot considering Becca's addiction to shoe shopping.) Eli was more practical and did not waste her time in 'honeymoon' stages or any other form of distractions that came in the form of men. She had realized a long time ago that men (or the ones that seemed to fancy her) were not worth her efforts and if it were not for the fact that she was **not** attracted to women, she would have assume she was lesbian.

"So Eli what are you making me for dinner?" Becca's question interrupted Eliza's daydream bringing her back to reality.

"Nothing just chicken soup, you know how much I love to eat soup when the weather is like this" Eliza turned off the stove and poured the soup into two bowls.

Rebecca and Eliza ate and talked about work, life, and boys although the latter was a topic that Eliza said little about and Rebecca never seemed to shut up about.

"You know Eli" Becca began while stirring her soup "I know a dashing young bloke who works with me at the Ministry of Magic. He works for the Department of Magical Games and Sports. He is handsome and best of all he is rich!" Rebecca wiggled her eyebrows indicating that this young bloke would prove to be Eliza's future soul mate.

Eliza groaned inwardly. She hated when her sister took on her love life as a personal project, hooking her up with different wizards that had absolutely nothing in common with her. While Eliza had to admit that her sister knew many handsome wizards, they were often shallow and immature handsome wizards. (Maybe that is why Eliza did not want to waste her efforts on such conquests, maybe she should try out the lesbian thing.)

"Oh Becca!" Eliza sighed, stood up and began to clean up the plates. She hoped her sister understood her sigh as a plea to leave her love life (or the lack of) alone.

With a flick of her wand and a whispered incantation, the plates Eliza had been holding were cleaned and placed back in the cupboard.

"Might as well do the dishes, since you cooked" Becca said as she yawned and stretched out her arms behind her head.

Eliza just nodded her head and placed a pot of tea on the stove. "No tea for me sis, I think I should be heading back." Becca said while looking at her watch "I think Ryan should be back by now." She got up and headed for the door.

"It was nice catching up and next time I will give you all the details about that bloke I told you about Eli!" Becca smiled and hugged her sister before opening the door to leave. Eliza took that as indication that her sister did not hear her previous plea.

"Oh Becca!" Eliza sighed again "just hope that you can come by more often and NOT only when Bryan is away" Eliza winked and smiled at her sister.

"Will do sis! Love you!" Becca yelled before she disapparated with a 'pop'.

'_I wonder when Becca will give up on trying to fix me up with a wizard and realize I am better off as an old maid living with dozens of cat's' _Eliza thought amusedly as she went into the kitchen to pour herself some tea.

A knock at the door disturbed Eliza's musings once again. She figured it was her sister who either read her thoughts and came back to yell at her for thinking that a dozen cats would be a suitable life partner or her absentminded sister had forgotten something.

Therefore, she did not hesitate to open the door expecting to see her sister smiling sheepishly at her. However, there was no Becca standing in front of her. There was nothing familiar or welcoming in the person that stood waiting to be welcomed in.


	3. Unwanted Visitor

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They all belong to J.K Rowling.**

**.III.  
**

In front of her stood a haggard looking man panting heavily and whispering "whhhaa…ttee…rrr" in between taking breaths. Eliza did not know what to do she felt like she was frozen in place as she watched in horror the bloodied face, torn and dirty clothes of the young man standing in front of her.

"whhh…aaa…tttt…eeee..r!" the stranger gasped desperately before he collapsed on her doorstep.

This is what caused Eliza to snap out of her daze, she realized this man needed immediate help. She grabbed him by his arms and pulled him inside with all the strength she could muster. She pushed him inside far enough to close the door.

Eliza knew that she could not carry him to the safety of her couch, so she threw a blanket that had been placed on top of her couch and some couch pillows in front of the heated fireplace to create a makeshift bed.

She pulled him into the blanket, placed his head above a pillow, and ran to the kitchen to grab water and towels then to the bathroom to get her first aid kit.

She took a warm damp towel and carefully began to clean the blood around his face. Through further inspection, Eliza found that behind the dried blood there were vicious cuts and bruises that grazed the young man's face. His whole face was swollen from the damage surrounding his otherwise handsome features. He had cuts around his eyes, nose, and forehead and deep bruises everywhere else.

Eliza began to slowly dab away the dirt and blood around his forehead, his eyes, and nose, and then she cleaned the area around his cheeks and jaw. When she reached his mouth, she grabbed another towel and dipped it into the glass of water. She placed the moist cloth against his mouth and squeezed it sending various droplets of water into his mouth. Eliza figured this was the best way to give the man his water while he was still unconscious. She then slowly and tenderly wiped away the remaining blood and dirt from his swollen dark pink lips. '_What beautifully shaped lips' _Eliza thought absentmindedly

A loud gasp escaped those swollen lips as Eliza dripped more water into his mouth. Eliza stepped back expecting him to awake from his unconsciousness, but was disappointed to see that the young man still lay out cold in front of her.

Eliza continued her careful ministrations. She removed the young man's heavy cloak, which was also dirty and torn, revealing a dirty old short-sleeved shirt. She realized then that the cuts and bruises were not limited to his face, but continued down his neck and around his arms and forearms. The dark purple tints of the bruises and the dried blood of his cuts grossly clashed with his creamy pale white skin.

As quickly as she could, Eliza cleaned up the rest of his cuts around his arms and neck and placed anti-biotic ointment over his fresh cuts.

Realizing that she had helped the young man as much as she could, she began to relax into the predicament she was now involved. In front of her lay a young man who looked like he had been beaten to death and yet had survived and ended up in her living room. _Who was this man? Where did he come from? What happened to him? Was he dangerous? And more importantly whoever hurt him would they hurt her too? _Different disparaging thoughts attacked Eliza's conscious mind.

But as she stared at the damaged body of the young man in front of her, her heart squeezed in sympathy. Eliza knew that she could not throw him out into the streets in his condition. So she decided that she did not care about where he came from or how he got to her house. He needed help and she would give it to him.

* * *

At the other end of the forest, in an old abandoned house three cloaked figures knelt before their angry master.

"M'master he got away," the shaky voice of one of the cloaked figures echoed through the empty and desolate room. " we..we… don't know how, but he disappeared before we could use the Avada Kedavra curse on him"

"_Crucio!" _the shrieking voice of their master was heard all throughout the house as the cloaked figure that had been talking withered and twitched in pain in front of his peers.

"If next time you do NOT bring me his dead body I will personally kill all of you and your precious families" the voice came out as a soft whisper but everyone understood that if they did not find Draco Malfoy soon they would be the ones at the receiving end of the killing curse


	4. Eliza's Bad Luck

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They all belong to J.K Rowling.**

**.IV.  
**

With a sigh of relief, Eliza knew that the stranger was out of danger. His heavy breathing had calmed down to a slow and rhythmic pace, so without any eminent danger looming ahead, Eliza allowed herself to relax a little. She went to her kitchen, and finally poured herself the cup of tea she was about to have before she was rudely interrupted by her unwanted visitor.

She brought her warm cup of tea to her small living room and slumped down onto her couch. She then began to observe the stranger that lay in front of her fireplace. Now that she was not worried about saving the man's life, she began to take notice of his handsome facial features. She acknowledged how he had a sharp and well-defined nose and a strong protruding chin. She also noticed his long but muscular arms, and under his old torn shirt, she could spot his burly toned chest. Eliza was then shocked to discover, that for the first time she noticed his most prominent feature: his hair. Although it was in disarray and covered in mud, sweat and dried up blood, his hair looked luxurious and soft. Eliza had never seen hair like his before (especially on a man). Of course, she had seen blonde hair, but never hair that almost looked silver in the firelight. '_This man is very beautiful indeed' _Eliza thought somberly as she took a sip of tea.

She also noted that her unwelcomed guest looked to be quite rich. She could tell by the designer label on his cloak and his expensive looking boots that were not often seen in her small village. Eliza began to wonder who this man really was and why he showed up on _her_ doorstep.

'_It's just my luck, out of all the places he could have gone for help, he had to end up in my cottage' _Eliza thought amusedly to herself.

She often wondered why bad luck always seemed to favor her. She did not mind so much the little things, like when one of the village kids threw a ball into her window shattering her favorite decorative vase, or when they stole her purse (twice) at two different restaurants. No, these little things were not her problem. But, the big things that never seemed to go her way, those were the ones that she had a problem with.

_10 Years Earlier…._

_Eliza awoke with a start. She was enthralled and excited for the day ahead. The night before, was long and treacherous, no matter how hard she tried, Eliza was unable to fall asleep with all her thoughts buzzing around in her head. She had knocked out around three in the morning when exhaustion finally kicked in. _

_She threw off her covers and jumped out of bed. She ran to the bathroom took a shower and dressed in record time. She was so excited that she had no time to waste on mundane things like dressing and showering. Eliza then practically jumped down the stairs and made her way to the dining room where she found her parents already eating breakfast. _

"_Good Morning!" she yelled as she made her way to the breakfast table_

"_Good morning" came the synchronized response from both of her parents. _

_Eliza went to sit next to her father who was reading the latest issue of The Daily Prophet. She beamed up at him expectantly, waiting for him to tell her something. However, he did not take any notice of Eliza, and just picked up his coffee cup, took a sip of coffee and turned to read the next page of his newspaper. _

_Eliza sighed she was not surprised that her father had taken no notice of her. The only way she could get his attention in the morning was if she had her picture in The Daily Prophet. Although, she was hoping that today of all days he would at least acknowledge her presence. But like always, she was wrong, again. _

_She then turned to her mother, knowing that for sure she could get some excitement from her. Again, Eliza was disappointed to see that her mother was also ignoring her. She was busy swishing her wand about and turning different cloths into various color combinations. She had her face twisted up in deep concentration obviously having a hard time deciding which colors suited her upstairs study best. _

_Eliza sighed loudly, hoping this would snap her mother from her project and finally acknowledge her presence. _

"_Oh! Eliza, honey, which one do you think would look better? The soft beige for the walls and August morning as the trim?" Eliza's mother stated as she dangled two pieces of cloth in front of Eliza's face. _

_Eliza blinked twice and was about to open her mouth to respond when her mother interrupted her by saying, "Or should we do a blue color? Like a nice cool blue for the walls and white for the trim? You know they say that blue is a very relaxing and soothing color, that would certainly be nice for the study. Don't you think?" Her mother turned the pieces of cloth she had been holding into a nice blue color, and white. She then looked expectantly at Eliza, waiting for her to solve the mystery she had been working on all morning._

_Eliza was utterly perplexed. Had her parents really forgotten what today was? It was only the most important day of her life. And here her father completely ignored her and her mother sat asking her stupid question about what colors would suit her study the best. She could feel the heat rise up to her face, so she got up from her chair looked at her mother and without a word walked out of the dining room. _

_As she walked out she could hear her mother calling after her, but she was too mad to turn back. She was worried she might say something she would later regret. So she walked along the long corridor that led to the back garden. The garden where she had played with Rebecca when they where little, but now that Rebecca was away at school, it had become her sanctuary where she could come hide away from her troubles. _

_Eliza sat down on a bench next to a row of beautiful red roses. She could hear the chirping of the birds in the distance and soft buzzing noises the bees made around the flowers. She closed her eyes and tilted her head up towards the sun allowing the warm heat to cover her face. Eliza missed her sister terribly. She knew that if her sister were home from school she would have made a big deal about today. Rebecca would have probably woken Eliza up really early to sing her own out of tune version of Happy Birthday and even baked a chocolate cake, with chocolate frosting just for her. _

_Eliza felt her eyes water, so she inhaled deeply and thought to herself '_its going to be okay, because after today I will get to join Rebecca at Hogwarts, and I shall spend every birthday with her from now on.' T_his realization caused her to have a sudden surge of exhilaration because she remembered that today was the day she was going to finally receive her letter._

_She got up from the bench and ran back towards the dining room, completely forgetting the anger she felt for her parents. How could she have let her parents make her forget about her letter, which was the reason she could not sleep the night before. She kept picturing different scenarios of how she was to receive the fateful letter. She wondered if she would feel a surge of magic run through her body or would there be some sort of fireworks when she opened her letter. It seemed possible since this was _the_ letter everyone waited for since they were old enough to understand the importance of such an acceptance. She began to run faster through the hallway, passing the kitchen where she caught a glimpse of the house elves cleaning and putting away food and kitchenware. When she finally arrived at the entrance of the dining room, she stood in the doorway panting and searching for a sign that the owls had delivered the post. Sure enough, she saw a stack of letters sitting at the edge of the table next to her father. _

_A bead of sweat trickled down Eliza's forehead, and she was quite certain that she was not sweating because of her run from the garden. She had been waiting for this moment for the past six years, and finally only a few feet away from her, stood a stack of letters that contained her acceptance letter to Hogwarts __School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She slowly made her way to where the stack was located, shaking with anticipation. She inhaled deeply and picked up the stack of letters in search for the one with the elegant, green letters that spelled out her name. _

A quiet moan that came from the stranger interrupted Eliza's memory. She quickly focused her eyes on him, looking to see if he was finally waking up from his unconsciousness. He moaned again but this time louder and with more conviction. She stood up quickly to see if she could help him, but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw for the first time, a pair of piercing gray eyes look up at her.

* * *

_A/N: Thanks for reading._


	5. Draco's Good luck

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They all belong to J.K Rowling.**

**.V.**

To say that Draco Malfoy was in pain would be an understatement.

His whole body felt as if it had been trampled over by a hundred hippogriffs, and his head had been mistaken for a quaffle ball in a Quidditch match. Every part of his body was in extreme pain, from his pinky toe that felt like it was broken to the most painful part at the back of his head.

But through all his pain he could also feel warmth on the right side of his body. As He began to open his eyes, he saw the light of a roaring fire. He was immediately wary, _'had they caught him? Did they have him hostage? And more importantly where was he?'_ he tried to move but that only caused a sharp pain to stab at the back of his already sore head. He heard someone make some sort of movement nearby, so in a panic he tried to sit up to defend himself from the unknown stranger, but again was met with resistance as his head throbbed in protest of his sudden movement. He remained still, already accepting his fate. He was prepared to surrender to whoever held him prisoner. But as he looked up, he only saw the outline of a tall slender woman, whose face was hidden by a shadow cast by the fire light.

"a..are you okay?" the woman stammered as she moved closer to Draco

As she moved closer, her face was removed from the shadows and Draco could see her worried expression. She had a heart shaped face, with a creamy white complexion tinted light pink around her cheeks. Her big dark eyes framed by long lashes looked worried and scared. Her hair was long, straight, and dark brown, but the light of the fire caused glints of red to sparkle through her long locks creating a bright aura around her whole face. Draco thought he had died, and was seeing an angel come to take him away to wherever he was destined to go. _But would death be this painful?_ He wondered grimly.

"Do you need help?" the woman's panicked voice snapped Draco back to reality.

He was certainly not dead, and he slowly began to realize that he was sprawled in front of a fire in a strange place being attended to by a mysterious woman that he had never seen before. He tried to sit up again, and this time the young woman held out her hand to help him complete his effort. As he sat up he could hear ringing in his ears and his vision had gone slightly blurry. As he focused his vision on her face, he was riveted by her beautiful features. Upon closer inspection, her dark eyes became a warm brown color with tints of copper and gold. Her lips, which he had not noticed before _how did he not notice them before?_ Were pale pink and plump, and he wanted to touch them and feel if they were as soft as they looked.

"Would you like some water?" her voice was now concerned, and her expression seemed confused.

Her question stopped Draco's observations. In an attempt to hide his face from her questioning eyes, he quickly looked away and stared at the fire. "Yes, that would be great" he said while beginning to observe his long arms wondering what kind of gooie substance was covering his wounds.

The woman walked away into what Draco believed to be the kitchen. The distance was short, and he could still see her from where he was sitting. Draco noted that the house was really quite tiny and it made him feel a bit claustrophobic. He was used to the grandeur of Malfoy Manor, where every room was wide and spacious '_I bet one of my broom closets is bigger than this place' _he turned his head to the opposite side of the room, a movement that caused another sharp pain to pound through his head. He slowly looked around and saw a short hallway that led to two rooms, which he assumed was the loo and a bedroom. He wondered how big those rooms were, but pictured them only being big enough to fit his extensive shoe collection.

As he was pondering this, the woman returned with a glass of water in one hand and a small tiny oval item in the other, which she held with her thumb and forefinger.

"Here drink this" she handed Draco the tiny object and the glass of water. Draco looked up at her with a very confused expression. _Is she trying to poison me?_ He thought warily

As if reading his mind, she said "Don't worry, it isn't poison, it's a pain reliever which I am sure you are in need of, considering all your bruises and cuts" she waved an arm towards Draco's body to prove her point.

He looked down at his cuts and bruises and back at her face. She did not look malicious and her face showed genuine concern. He figured he would trust her. His body was in quite a lot of pain and if this small object helped any, then he was willing to take the risk. He took the object and swallowed it with a gulp of cool, refreshing water. He drank the whole glass in that gulp and looked up guiltily up at the woman in request for more. He felt an unbelievable desire for water, as if he had been thirsty for years.

The woman nodded her head in approval, retrieved the glass, and walked back to the kitchen to refill it with more water. Draco took the opportunity to take notice of the very tiny living room. From where he was sitting, he saw a small dark green couch, which was situated in the middle of the room in front of the fireplace. He turned his head and next to the fireplace placed in an angle was a small side table, which held an interesting looking black box with a shiny front. Underneath the table, stood a large pile of disheveled papers stacked on top of each other. He was interrupted from his observations when the young woman came back with a refilled glass of water in one hand and a pitcher of water in the other.

"I figured you were really thirsty," the woman said with a sheepish smile as she handed Draco the glass of water. Draco took the glass and greedily drank the liquid in one long gulp. She then poured more water into the glass and sat on the green couch. He could feel her questioning eyes on him, but he did not dare say a word. Having had his thirst quenched, and not knowing what else to occupy himself with, he just sat and slowly sipped on his water looking everywhere else but at the woman.

For a long time, there was nothing but a loud silence, neither of them having the courage to ask the hundreds of questions that ran through their heads.

Finally she cut through the silence, "My name is Eliza Selwyn" she stated and looked at Draco expecting him to introduce himself.

But Draco just stared at the fire while he ran his forefinger along the rim of his glass. _'Why does that name sound so familiar'_ he wondered.

"and _your_ name is?" Eliza asked in an annoyed tone.

"you have a lovely home here" he lied. He did not want to answer her question just yet.

"thank you?" her tone was now confused, but Draco could tell that she understood _he was not going to share his secrets with her yet. _

Draco placed the glass of water next to his side and felt his head. That magical object she had given him had worked wonderful, the pain at the back of his head was minimized to a light stinging instead of the hard stabbing he had felt a couple of minutes earlier.

"How are you feeling?" she asked looking worriedly at his head.

He wondered why she looked so concerned for him. He was just a stranger to her, wasn't he? So why was she worried about what happened to him? He couldn't understand why she was being so generous. He was lost in thought, wondering her motivations when he felt a warm compress touch his neck. He sighed loudly, immediately relaxing into the warm sensation. It felt wonderful against his aching neck muscles.

"How are you feeling?" Eliza asked again as she went to sit back on the couch. She looked at him worriedly.

"I am fine" he said as he moved the compress to the other side of his neck. "Thank you for your help" this statement came out as a low whisper but he knew she had heard him because as he looked at her from the corner of his eye he could see her nod in welcome.

Eliza got up from the couch, walked through the small hallway and escaped into one of the rooms. She returned shortly with a bundle of blankets.

"If you want you can sleep on the couch." She placed the blankets on the couch.

"Or you can stay on the floor if you like." She looked down at Draco as he sat on the floor "The second door on your right is the loo" she pointed to the door on the far right. "and there is the kitchen" she pointed to the room across from Draco "you can help yourself to anything you want in there, just wash your own dirty dishes"

Draco made a loud snort '_That will be the day' _he thought amusedly

Eliza took no notice of his expression and turned around to point at the room she had gone in to retrieve her blankets. "That room is mine, so if you need anything else just knock and let me know" she turned back to face Draco and gave him one more questioning look, turned back around and walked to her room.

"Good night" she said as she closed the door behind her with a soft 'click'

"Good night" he whispered towards the closed door.

After a couple of minutes of staring at her closed door, he got up from the floor and walked over to the couch. He prepared his sleeping area, took off his boots, and sat on the couch watching the flames of the roaring fire.

He began to think about his day, he was in awe that not only had he gotten away from his captors, but also that he was safe for the time being. Draco did not usually believe in luck, but at this moment, he just could not believe his good fortune. Hours earlier, he was sure he was going to be a dead man. However, fate had brought him (while it was small, tiny and not to his standards) it was a safe home, where a mysterious beautiful woman doted on his every need.

He was safe for now. But for how long? How long will it take them to find him again? He stared at the fire until his eyes got too heavy to keep them open. He would worry about that tomorrow.

He fell onto the couch with a quiet thomp, and knocked out.

* * *

"Henney, Come see this here!!" Robert yelled over the deafening sound of crickets. He picked up a shiny object that had caught his eye in the middle of the dark forest floor. Through further inspection he saw that it was a small pin, it was a dragon curling majestically around a staff, the inside of the staff was covered in little green emeralds.

Henney ran to Robert panting heavily, his large body not equipped to handle his current exercise. "W..wh..a.t is it?" He breathed as he doubled over in an attempt to catch his breath.

Robert held out the shiny object, moving it right and left allowing the moonlight to highlight the green emeralds on the golden pin. "Was not this on the boy when we caught him?" he asked hopefully.

Henney stood up straight and retrieved the pin from Robert. He looked at the pin closely and a wide grin began to spread around his large meaty face.

"Gareth, I think we found a clue to where our little friend has gone" Henney turned around to face a tall, lanky man who had been watching their conversation closely. As he walked towards Henney and away from the shadow of the forest, his deformed facial features became more prominent. His crooked nose, which looked to have been broken several times, overtook his whole face. His huge bushy eyebrows were scrunched up together in concentration as he looked at object. After watching the object for a couple of seconds, his beady little eyes glinted with maliciousness as he looked at both of his colleagues, and then looked straight ahead.

The two men silently watched Gareth and then followed his gaze. They saw the cluster of lights that shone in the distance. They then looked at each other and smiled victoriously.


End file.
